Black Sea

About Black Sea:

• It is a large in land sea located at the southeastern extremity of Europe.
• It is one of the marginal seas of the Atlantic Ocean.
• It covers an area of approximately 436,000 square kilometers (168,000 square miles).
• It is bound to the west by the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe, to the east by the Caucasus, to the north by the East European Plains, and to the south by Anatolia of Western Asia. 
• Bordering countries:
  • The sea is bordered to the north by Russia and Ukraine, Turkey to the south, Bulgaria to the west, and Georgia to the east.
  • Romania also has an opening to the Black Sea. 
  • The Crimean Peninsula extends into it from the north.
• Russia has the longest coastline on the sea (2,300 km), followed by Turkey (1,329 km) and Ukraine (1,282 km).
• It is connected with the Aegean Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea) through the Bosporus Strait, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles Strait, and with the Sea of Azov by the Kerch Strait.
• Created when structural upheavals in Asia Minor split off the Caspian basin from the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea gradually became isolated; salinity is now less than half that of the world’s oceans.
• The Black Sea receives freshwater inflows all around the basin. It is a meeting point for many rivers, such as the Danube, Southern Bug, Dnieper, Rioni, and Dniester.
• It is the largest meromictic basin, which means the movement of water between the lower and upper layers of the Sea is rare.
• It is one of the world's largest anoxic basins, meaning it has areas with very little dissolved oxygen.
• Islands: It contains several islands, with the largest ones being Snake Island (Ukraine), Giresun Island (Turkey), and St. Ivan Island (Bulgaria).

Q1: What is the Balkan Peninsula?

Balkans, easternmost of Europe’s three great southern peninsulas. There is not universal agreement on the region’s components. The Balkans are usually characterized as comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia—with all or part of each of those countries located within the peninsula. Portions of Greece and Turkey are also located within the geographic region generally defined as the Balkan Peninsula, and many descriptions of the Balkans include those countries too.

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